The Virus
by Jed Rhodes
Summary: First in my Eighth Doctor fanfic series, Life And Times Of The Eighth Doctor. Carrie Wright meets the Doctor, and together they must face off against a deadly virus, and it's deadlier creators...
1. Chapter 1

London, England, Earth, The Solar System, 2004, Local Dateline, Humanian Era.

Carrie Wright logged onto her computer.

--

She was short, with light blonde hair, and she was quite pretty actually. She had once hoped to become something nice and pleasant – like a Doctor or a Vet – but her Dad had convinced her (and God only knew how) to become a Banker. So here she was.

For the past three years, Carrie had worked for this branch of the Lloyds bank, doing the same job, day in day out – reading various files about various things then at the end of the week, writing a report about said files. This day was, in all actuality, a Tuesday, and she was one third of the way through the files, when something very strange happened.

Her computer crashed. The screen froze up, the little cursor stopped moving, and then an error message came up.

"Damn," she swore. "I don't need this today..."

"Well, no one ever wants their computer to crash, do they?" came a light male voice. She looked up, and saw the most extraordinary man looking at her, smiling. He was about thirty, maybe a little older, with bright blue eyes and long, messy brown hair. His clothes were an assortment of various Victoriana style clothes, but most of them were stuff that could be bought at a high street – silver waistcoat and black trousers from H&M, white shirt from M&S, and a short velvet jacket that looked like it came from Paul Smith. He wore no tie, giving him the look of a dashing romantic of the modern era, trying (and failing) to look like something from the Edwardian era.

"Hello," he said, his smile never wavering, "I'm from the CCI."

He held up a pass that confirmed this identity, then went to her computer.

"Er... CCI?" she asked, recovering her voice.

"Crashed Computers Investigators," he replied lightly. "Not very convincing is it?" he added after a moment.

She didn't answer, and watched him as he pressed random buttons, typing every code and every sequence under the sun (as far as she could tell).

"What are you trying to do?" she asked.

"Find out what caused this particular computer to crash," he said. "From the looks of it, a Virus."

"A virus?" Carrie asked.

"A virus," the man replied. "And it looks pretty darn serious to me. Here, hold this," he added, passing her a small, tube like device with what appeared to be a miniature satellite attached. He looked at it briefly, then sighed.

"On it's last legs, poor thing," he said. "I need to replace it."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Mine," the man replied. "Oh," he added, after another moment bashing at keys. "Oh now this is... oh dear..."

"What?" she asked.

"Bad," he replied, before turning and smiling at her. "But nothing for you to worry about."

"How exactly is it bad?" Carrie asked.

"I thought I said it was nothing for you to worry about," the Doctor said, his face and voice both deadly serious. "Anyway – goodbye, my dear."

He grabbed his... thing, and walked out of her cubicle, leaving her slightly shell shocked.

"Oh by the way!" he said, popping his head back in. "I am the Doctor, to give me my proper name. And you are?"

"Carrie," she said. "Carrie Wright."

"Lovely to meet you!" he smiled, and she could tell he meant it. "Absolutely lovely."

And then he walked out of her cubicle again, and she felt as though she had just glimpsed what life could be, and let it slip out of her fingers. She never let anything slip out of her fingers, she promised herself, but this... it almost felt too big for her, so, just this once, she left it alone, and prayed that she had made the right decision.

Then she went back to work, working on her suddenly active computer. The files wouldn't read themselves.

--

The Doctor looked the Sonic Screwdriver up and down, and sighed. He was completely unaware of the people who were giving him funny looks – it didn't interest him. He tutted as he approached the TARDIS – the sonic definitely needed replacing. He opened the door and went inside. Maybe... maybe something different this time...?

--

"He's nobody, just some nosy weirdo," the operative said to his Masters.

**No - He is more than that - We have encountered him prior to this instance - He is called The Doctor.**

"The Doctor," the operative repeated. "Who is he?"

**Irrelevant - He is a threat - He must be terminated.**

"And the girl?"

**She must be terminated also - Nothing must endanger our operation - Contact Terminated.**


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was much like any Wednesday – keep checking the same old files - she had to check the files and then return the completed checks to the office by Friday. Boring as hell.

She was thinking about the strange man – the "Doctor". During a free moment, she idly typed in "the Doctor" in google, but it came up with nothing interesting apart from the NHS.

So she started looking up different things. "Doctor Victoriana." "Doctor Silver Pen." None of it worked. She sighed and was about to go back to work, when a call came from her boss.

"Carrie, could you come up here please?" he asked her over the phone.

--

John Matthews was to all intents and purposes the most annoying, irritating, dispicable, opportunistic, vile and unpleasant person she had ever had the misfortune to work for. He was short, ugly, overweight and balding, and he was also extremely arrogant.

"Ah, Carrie," he said, in his 'nice till you've done what I want' voice. "Glad to see you."

"What can I do for you sir?" she asked. She hated calling him sir, but he insisted upon it.

"You can tell me what this man," and here he showed her a picture of the Doctor, "was doing at your desk, yesterday."

"Er," Carrie stammered, "he said he was from the... Computer Crashings Investigators, or something?"

"And you believed this?" John asked.

"No, but what could I do, say no?" she snapped. "Besides, it isn't my job to question."

"No," John smiled. "But it isn't your job to allow total strangers access to our computers either. I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go."

"What?!" Carrie protested. "That isn't company policy..."

"No, its my policy," John said, his voice hard. "Now go clear out your desk, get out."

"That isn't fair!" Carrie said. "I _talked_ to a guy for thirty seconds and you're sacking me?"

"For all you know, he could have been a fraudster," Matthews smiled unpleasantly. "Millions of customers rely on people like you to keep their details secure."

"My computer wasn't even working," She snapped.

"The decision," Matthews said expansively, "has already been made. Clear out your desk, and leave."

Carrie considered hitting him, but instead she jabbed a finger at him and stormed out. Matthews sighed.

--

**She is emotive - erratic.**

"Human," he told the voice in his head, the little voice that gave him instructions in the hope that it would make him a better man.

**The terms are interchangeable - she is unsuitable for conversion.**

"So kill her," Matthews said. "You were going to anyway."

**Correct - That was the initial plan - alternatives were considered - Conversion would have been a highly efficient means of dealing with the problem - unwasteful - However her mental state is not suited the resulting unit would be in danger of systems failure.**

Matthews sighed. Then he sat down.

"Doesn't matter anyway," he said. "I never liked her."

**Like or dislike is irrelevant - contact terminated.**

--

"Damn ugly..." Carrie muttered under her breath. She couldn't believe this. They had sacked her, for knowing someone. No, not even that – for talking to someone for thirty seconds, if that. The complete, utter...

She looked up at heavy footfalls. Two tall figures were watching her, wearing long, rather ridiculous coats, marching almost in perfect unison towards her – no, not almost – exactly perfect unison. And they were definitely heading for her.

"Oi!" she called. "Who are you?!"

They didn't answer, but she heard a faint muttering that meant that they were talking among themselves.

"I said, who are you?!" she yelled.

Then they started marching towards her, coming in slow, steady, but purposeful steps.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled. She was trying not to be intimidated, but they were coming closer and closer...

And then the Doctor was in front of her, and smiling, before turning to face the two men.

"_Hello_!" he said. "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello..."

"Identify yourself," one of the figures ordered, in a metallic, almost robotic voice.

"Oh – sorry, I'm the Doctor," he smiled. "I just wanted to say hello, how are you, how are thing, how is life going... basically how everything!"

"If you are the Doctor, you must be terminated," the other figure said.

"Must I?" the Doctor said, his voice dropping into a disappointed tone. "Oh what a shame, just as I was getting to know you, really, awful... run."

This last word was directed at Carrie, thrown over the shoulder.

"But, seriously, why do I have to die?" the Doctor continued. "I mean I haven't said anything wrong, I haven't done anything wrong... have I? Run."

Again the comment thrown over the shoulder at the bemused Carrie. The Doctor flicked his gaze back at her for a moment, and she started walking...

"Halt," one of the figures said. "You are to be terminated."

"Oh, now why are you picking on her?" the Doctor protested.

"She has met with you, she must be terminated," the first figure said.

"Oh come now, she doesn't know anything, does she?" the Doctor countered. "Nothing at all, isn't that right, Carrie?"

"What?" Carrie asked, bewildered. "No – no nothing! Nothing at all."

"There, see?" the Doctor smiled. "No problem."

"She will be eradicated, along with you," the first figure said.

"Well, if you're going to kill her," the Doctor said, his voice suddenly menacing, "at least let her see your FACE!!"

He tore the coat and hat from the first figure, and they fell to the ground. Carrie stared at the silver figure beneath – blank mask of a face, tall, piping, teardrop black eyes...

"Cybermen," the Doctor said grimly. "Lovely."

"Oh my God..." Carrie gasped.

"You must be eradicated," the first Cyberman said.

"Oh come on now," the Doctor smiled. "You chaps must be a little less wasteful than that! I thought you converted people."

"The directive comes under special dispensation," the Cyberman said.

"Oh you can tell you fellows have been here too long," the Doctor said. "You're even talking like bankers."

"You will surrender or be terminated," the Cyberman said.

"Or," the Doctor said, holding a finger up, "there is the best option."

"Which is?" the Cyberman asked.

"This," the Doctor said, happily. Then he held up his silver pen-thing, patted it fondly, gave it a sad smile, then threw it at the Cybermen. He grabbed Carrie's arm, then Cybermen started following, but then the pen fizzled with blue light… and both Cybermen collapsed.

"Easy," the Doctor grinned as they ran, but it was a painful grin, one of great sadness. He stopped after about thirty metres, and looked at Carrie.

"Sorry," he said to her. "I may have inadvertently gotten you targeted."

"'May' have?" Carrie snarled. "You got me fired, and got me attacked by giant robot guys…"

"Cybermen," the Doctor said.

"Whatever the hell they are – look weirdy," Carrie continued, "I don't want to die. I want to have a job, and I want a normal life…"

"Why on Earth would you want one of those?" the Doctor asked. "They're remarkably boring."

"Yeah? Well that's what I want," Carrie snapped, suddenly not quite so certain. The Doctor was smiling at her, but he said nothing more on the subject.

"Anyway," he said, "I suggest you go home. I'm sure Eastenders is on for your viewing pleasure, so… goodbye."

He walked off, leaving Carrie a moment to think. Life had never before been this interesting, this exciting. Could she bear to let that go? If she let the Doctor walk off, that was it.

So she made a decision.

"Oi!" she called after him. "Wait!"

--


	3. Chapter 3

III

The Doctor spun on his heel, and looked at her, his blue eyes piercing her.

"Yes?" he asked.

"What are you on about?" she asked him, forthrightly. "What are you on?!"

"I'm on about something that really doesn't concern you," the Doctor said, "and I'm high on life at the moment."

"Be serious," Carrie snapped. "There's something else going on."

"How do you know?" the Doctor asked her.

"Because..." she stopped, aware that she didn't know anything. "Because it feels wrong," she said at last with conviction. "Those things aren't human, are they?"

"Well," the Doctor said, for a moment looking deadly serious, "I might be able to prove you wrong about that."

"How so?" Carrie asked.

"They were people, once," the Doctor said. "Human, or near enough. They are originally from the planet Mondas, but... they were afraid of death."

"Who isn't?" Carrie asked.

"Well, me," the Doctor smiled. "But they were so afraid that they made themselves live longer using technology. So much so that soon they didn't need anything but the brain. They prefer to keep some organic elements to make the excuse that they are still people, but they're lying to themselves. They'd never admit it."

Carrie thought about that for a moment.

"That sounds like too high a price for anything," she said. "Even immortality."

The Doctor stared at her for a long moment, then smiled at her, rewarding her with whar was possibly the warmest smile in history, possibly the warmest smile anyone had ever given her.

"That it does," he said. "Come one, follow me."

--

He was youngish. Ok. Sexy, in an absent minded sort of a way. Late thirties – bit old for her.

He was totally silent on the walk. Carrie didn't even know where they were going, only that it was a while away from where they had been. Eventually, they ended up on a street corner some way away from where they had been, next to an old Police Box. He turned to look at her.

"Oh," he said. "Why are you here?"

"Well," she replied, "probably because you asked me to follow you."

"Did I?" he asked. "I did? Oh. Ah."

He smacked his head, and tapped his finger against his temple, then sighed.

"It's no good," he said. "I simply cannot remember why I asked you here. Ah well, never mind," he smiled. "Cheerio."

"Hey!" Carrie snapped. "You can't just drag me here then…"

"I didn't drag you, you came under your own power," the Doctor smiled.

"Point is," Carrie continued, "I don't think it's very fair for you to bring me here then say you don't know why you brought me here!"

The Doctor smiled some more, but he said nothing.

"Oh stop smiling like a gimp!" she snapped, and his smile faded.

"Look, I don't remember because I have a lot of things on my mind," the Doctor said. "Doesn't give you carte blanche to be rude to me."

"What do you have on your mind, weirdy?" Carrie yelled. "What new fashion sense to try out?!"

She regretted the words as soon as she said them, but the Doctor didn't look angry. In fact, he looked almost intrigued.

"That might explain why you weren't converted," he told her. "Strong minded. Emotional. Marvelous."

"Well, I'm glad you approve," Carrie said, but her anger was fading. "Now – back to why I'm here?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor smiled. "Still no idea. But you've inspired me quite well, thank you."

"You're welcome," Carrie replied, then she raised her eyebrows as the Doctor went inside the outdated Police Box. "What are you doing?"

"You can come in if you like," the Doctor called out, sounding as if he was coming from far away – further away than was strictly possible. Carrie edged towards the box, and came to the door.

"Look," the Doctor called out, "I can't hang around forever, you know. Come in or don't."

Carrie thought about it, then edged off again.

"Oh suit yourself," the Doctor called, then the door slammed shut. Carrie stepped back, only for a wheezing, trumpeting sound to start up. She looked up, to see the light flashing, and then she gasped.

The Police Box faded slowly out of existence, the noise fading with it, until both were well and truly gone.

Carrie looked at the space where the box had been in shock, then shook her head and ran back to where her car was.

--

**She survived - she was aided by the Doctor.**

"Yes," Matthews confirmed. "The Cyber Units were cleared up, don't worry."

**We are incapable of worry.**

"Of course," Matthews smiled humourlessly. "But the point is, she wasn't killed, and now she's more of a threat."

**Correct.**

"Well, then," Matthews said. "It's pretty obvious what we should do, isn't it?"

**Negative – you will explain.**

"Ignore her," Matthews smiled, glad that, although they had converted him, he still had his own mind and ideas. "If she tries to go to UNIT, they'll call her crazy. If anyone else interferes, then you can just accelerate the plan. The Doctor is the main threat here, but we can deal with him, he's only one man…"

**Do not underestimate the Doctor – he is a cunning adversary – we will deal with the girl later – you are correct in your assessment of the Doctor – he is the main threat – we shall prepare for his attempts to intervene in our plan.**

Matthews was momentarily confused.

"How do you know what his plan will be?" he asked.

**We do not – contact terminated.**

'Well that makes me feel better," Matthews grimaced to himself. Nonetheless, he accepted his Masters decision. What else could he do? He was at their disposal, as always.

--

Carrie sighed, as Eastenders finished. This was the most boring thing you could possibly imagine.

Yet, it was her life. It was, in many respects, no different than what it had been yesterday.

And yet it was. So different.

Then she sat up – a familiar wheezing, trumpeting sound was starting.

The blue box materialized in her front room, and she stood up and gaped at it.

The Doctor popped his head out of the door.

"Hello," he said. "I've just remembered why I wanted you to follow me."

--


	4. Chapter 4

IV

It had intelligence. It was designed to have intelligence, because if it didn't have intelligence, then it would never succeed in its appointed task.

It located the necessary programs it needed to wipe. It wiped them, and then it wiped all back up copies.

This was, it understood, a test of its software, in a converted environment. Simple. This test would then be analyzed by its masters, who would come up with any improvements that needed making (if there were any) and then implement them in a new version of the selfsame virus, whilst wiping the old Virus at the same time. Simple, efficient. The Virus had intellect. It knew its existence was nothing to its masters, and it didn't care.

It was Cyber-Intellect. Care was emotion. Irrelevant.

--

"Why?" Carrie asked, amazed at the Doctors intrusion.

"Because I like you and I want you to see what's in this box," the Doctor smiled. Carrie took a step back.

"You can think again mate," she said, angrily. "I'm not going in there with some weirdy I don't even really know, when for all I know you'd rape me or something…"

The Doctor was staring at her as if she was mad.

"Why would I want to do that?" he asked, perfectly innocently. "I only want you to come with me."

"Where?" Carrie asked.

"Well," the Doctor smiled. "Everywhere, really. This thing, here, is a very special device."

"It isn't human," Carrie pointed out.

"Neither am I," the Doctor said.

Carrie raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Now I've heard it all," she said. "You aren't human?"

"No, I'm not," the Doctor told her. "I am a Time Lord from a really boring world I hope never to take you to, I'm centuries old, and I really am quite a lot cleverer than you."

"How do you know that?" Carrie asked, offended.

"Because I've got an IQ of about 2013," the Doctor smiled. "Don't think that you have that, do you?"

"…no," Carrie finished. "Who are you?"

"The Doctor," the Doctor frowned. "I thought we'd been through that bit. The next bit's better."

He smiled, and indicated the door of his box.

"Go on," he said.

Carrie was still reluctant but she went in nonetheless, crossing slowly over the threshold. The Doctor stayed outside, and idly checked his pocket watch.

Then Carrie walked back out again, hand over her eyes.

"I did not just see that," she muttered. She walked all around the box, before coming back to the entrance. "Mirrors. It's mirrors."

"No, it isn't," the Doctor smiled. "It most definitely isn't."

Carrie shook her head, and popped her head back inside. Then she took the plunge and went inside. The Doctor followed her.

"What… what is this?" Carrie asked. It was a twenty foot high room, with a library, a sofa, and a record player, as well as a massive, brass, six sided console, covered in levers, switches and buttons, surrounded by arches.

"This isn't possible," she said.

"It is," the Doctor smiled.

"You are alien," Carrie said.

"I did say so," the Doctor smiled.

"What is this?" Carrie asked.

"TARDIS," the Doctor told her. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"It's bigger," Carrie said. "On the Inside. Bigger on the inside."

"Yes," the Doctor said.

"It's alien," Carrie added, as if continuing a series of observations.

"That is true," the Doctor nodded.

"So, you're alien," Carrie reiterated.

"That I am," the Doctor confirmed yet again.

"Wow," Carrie said.

The Doctor smiled at her.

"This ship travels through time and space," he explained to her. "Anywhere, anywhen."

"Anywhere?" Carrie asked.

"Anywhen," the Doctor repeated. "Think of a year, and it'll take you there."

Carrie looked dumbfounded for a long moment.

"What about those Cybertron thingies…?" she asked.

The Doctor blanched, and sighed.

"Oh, yes, the Cybermen. Suppose we must sort them out," he said. "Now then," he added, crossing over to the great console. "To find a Cyber army…"

"Army?" choked Carrie. She hadn't realized that the situation would be so serious. "An… invasion army?"

"Something like that," the Doctor said, all serious now. "They have a Virus permeating your banks systems at this moment, for reasons which, bluntly, I am stumped on."

"Why do they want to wreck banks?" Carrie asked. "What possible use could that have?"

"Dunno," the Doctor murmured. "Tell me, are there any people at your company who've started acting strangely?"

"What, apart from my boss sacking me for no reason?" Carrie replied sarcastically.

"Yes, apart from your boss sacking you for no – oh," the Doctor stopped, looking shocked. "Ah. Now, that sounds to me like a very, very good thing."

"What, my boss sacking me?" Carrie said, sarcastically. "Oh yeah, great."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…" the Doctor said, "not that you were sacked – that he sacked you. Unusual. Perfect."

--

The bank employees were doing what they always did, working in their office. Carrie's sacking was something that had become office discussion point. Then for some reason, John Matthews sent for a general staff assembly.

"What do you think this is about?" Danielle asked her mate Laura.

"No idea," her friend replied.

"It's nuts," Harry Smith said. "Why do they need us here? A new policy…?"

When Matthews came onto the stage, he smiled at all of them.

"Thank you for being here," he said. "Trust me, what I have to say will, I assure you, change your lives forever."

At first, nobody understood what he was saying, because, to them, it sounded like total toss. Then, to everyone's shock and horror, thirty tall, silver figures with blank metal faces appeared. Matthews silently prayed for his own soul, with what little humanity he had left.

Then he laughed as the screaming started.

--


	5. Chapter 5

V

The Doctor flicked a switch and pulled a lever.

"Very Jules Verne," Carrie said. "In a good way."

"Jules Verne, yes," the Doctor said, absent mindedly. "My sort of fellow. Had a chat with him once, about his work, he was very accommodating. I've got his autograph somewhere."

Carrie laughed and rolled her eyes, continuing to study the strange console room."

"Do you live in this room?" she asked.

"It's very convenient to live on your flight deck," the Doctor said. "Very convenient. I never used to and I always used to want to sit down and there always used to be this awful walk…"

"Will we be able to stop the Cybermen?" Carrie asked. "I mean, if they're alien invaders…"

"I've battled them before," the Doctor said. "They're not to be trifled with, but I think I can handle them."

"Where are we going?" Carrie asked.

"We're going to visit your ex area of employment," the Doctor replied. "I imagine that's where the Cybermens' base is."

"You know how you said that these Cybermen things were human," she began. "Well… I've seen Star Trek, the Borg. Do the Cybermen… do they…?"

The Doctor silenced her with a small look.

"We'll see," he murmured. "We'll see."

--

The office rooms were dark, the energy being siphoned off into – somewhere. Carrie stepped out of the box and looked around, upset by what she was seeing.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"I'm not sure you'll want to know the answer to that question," the Doctor muttered. "Follow me."

He had pulled out a small, silver pen device. It was similar in shape to the one he'd sacrificed to the Cybermen earlier, except that it possessed a little blue light on the top of it. The Doctor buzzed it across the room, covering it. The Doctor studied it, and sighed.

"Follow me," he said, going into a small cupboard. He looked through the cupboard, then waved her over.

"Through her," he said, opening – and Carrie couldn't believe this – opening a secret passageway into… well, God knew where. He turned and smiled at her, and led her through.

--

Matthews watched as the employees were placed in the cubicles. His remaining human senses were dying, but there was a part of him that regretted this.

"My turn yet?" he asked.

**Soon. Your part is not yet complete. You must serve one more purpose.**

"What purpose?" he asked.

**Cyber-control requires you.**

"Very well," Matthews said. "But I want to forget. To be freed."

It will happen. Contact terminated.

Matthews sighed, and headed for the lift. He considered his bargain with the Cybermen…

They had come to Earth four months ago, a plan brewing. They had come to him – his wife had left him after her second miscarriage, taking their only child with her and telling him, in no uncertain terms, that he would never see the child again. The Cybermen had promised that after doing their bidding, he would be free of the pain. He would forget. He would be Cyberform.

That seemed like something worth becoming. A metal immortal, logical and super intelligent. His future. He shook himself out of his reverie, as the lift pinged, and he entered Cyber Control, on the top floor where his superiors used to be – they were now Cybermen, lining the walls in various states of completion, or walking around, monitoring the various dials. Matthews envied them – soon, he would no longer be a pitiful human. He would be... Cyberman.. Surrounding the room were more Cyber-Conversion units, and more Cybermen. But that was not what Matthews was paying attention to – he was staring at the chamber in the centre of the room.

"Is the Controller in there?" he asked.

**He will be.**

Matthews looked around himself.

"Well?" he asked. "Where is he?"

**You will enter the chamber.**

Mattthews stopped.

"Me?" he asked. "The Cybercontroller?"

**You are the optimum choice. You wish to be Cyberform.**

Matthews smiled – not only were they giving him what he wanted – they were giving him more.

"I wish I knew how to thank you," he said, and he meant it honestly.

"Enter the chamber," the Cyberleader, no longer a mere voice in his head, but a physical presence by his side, "and you will have thanked us enough."

Matthews nodded, and walked, head held high, into the chamber – accepting his destiny and flinging John Matthews away forever more.

--

The Doctor walked into the long corridor. Carrie came in behind him, looking around, and slightly worried. There was something wrong, she could feel it.

"What is this place?" Carrie asked. "Smells like someone died."

"You'll wish you hadn't asked," the Doctor said, guessing what the place actually was. They walked further down, and they started seeing the capsules in the walls. "Oh no…"

Carrie could see the people inside. Some were already completely replaced, but some were still recognizable as her colleagues. John, Andrew, Jamie, Louise… all of them wired up, with arms and legs being replaced by… something.

"This is what the Cybermen do to you," the Doctor told her. "They stick you in a pod and take your life, and try to make this the compromise. But it's not."

"They're being taken apart…" Carrie said, choking on the words. "Jesus bloody wept…"

"Further down here," the Doctor said, leading her on.

The Doctor opened another service hatch and stepped inside. Carrie followed him, eager to get away from the chamber, her eyes stinging with tears.

"Right," the Doctor said. "Through here."

"Where are we going?" Carrie asked, concerned – she didn't want to run into any more Cybermen.

"Cyber Control," the Doctor said. "My typical plan in this instant."

"What?!" Carrie hissed. "You mean, we're going to their base?!"

"Yep," the Doctor smiled. "Follow me."

Carrie didn't.

"Why can't you just tell the military about this?" she demanded. "You're one person, one guy… what gives you the right to try and stop them?"

The Doctor turned to look at her, and his eyes… God, his eyes were so old, so full of worry, and doubt… and power. His eyes were powerful.

"I am the Doctor," he said. "I am a Time Lord, an ancient culture who swore never to interfere in life… and I broke that oath, and I interfere. I help people, I save worlds, and I fight evil."

He turned so that he was fully facing her.

"This is my life," he said, eyes locked with hers. "If you don't want to be a part of it, I can take you home after all this. But right now, you have to stay with me, or else you'll almost certainly die."

Carrie stared at this man, who was not a man, who was in fact, a superhuman being from another world… and she believed.

"Alright," she said. "I'll go with you."

The Doctors serious face vanished in an instant, and he smiled as brilliantly as you could imagine. Then he opened another door and dragged her inside.

It was huge… Carrie guessed that it used to be the old conference room. There were Cybermen surrounding them, turning to face them. There was a huge, pillar shaped chamber, in the centre of the room. The Doctor held up his pen-thing.

"That a ray gun?" Carrie asked.

"Nope," the Doctor said. "Sonic Screwdriver."

"Doctor," a voice came down, Cyberman, and yet there was more personality than there had been. "You have come, as all statistical probabilities indicated you would."

"Never tell me the odds," the Doctor called out, before smiling. "Han Solo, _brilliant_ character."

"You have made your final mistake, Doctor," the voice said. "You will know fear… and then we will remove fear."

"Show yourself," the Doctor said, more seriously. "I don't like talking to voices."

The voice said nothing, but the chamber opened, and steam came out, tinged with red.

"Evaporated blood," the Doctor murmured, not noticing Carrie's disgusted reaction. "Speed conversion. For… ah," he added, his eyes widening. "I was wondering when you'd show your faceplate. Carrie, allow me to introduce you to the Cybermen's big cheese."

A large Cyberman, seven feet tall, with no handlebars, a slimmer chest unit, streamlined piping, red glowing eyes, and a transparent braincase, with the brain visible, emerged from the chamber.

"The Cybercontroller," the Doctor said grimly.

--


	6. Chapter 6

VI

"Doctor," the Controller said, seeing them almost instantly.

"Controller," the Doctor replied, slowly, wearily.

"Your form has altered since our last encounter," the Controller said. "It is younger."

"Yes, unfortunate encounter with some Chinese gangsters in San Fran," the Doctor smiled. "I like that name – San Fran. I ought to meet a companion called Fran, just so I can take her to San Fran and say, 'welcome to San Fran, Fran…'"

"Sense of perspective," Carrie said, looking around them, not understanding a word of what the Controller had said, but then again, she wasn't really paying attention – let the Doctor sort out the big bad, she was watching the Borg Henchmen.

The Doctor looked at her, and then he nodded his head with a look of dawning comprehension.

"Right," he said. "So… um… what exactly, are you doing on Earth?"

"Great," Carrie murmured, rolling her eyes. "Like he'll tell you."

"You will be dead shortly," the Controller said, "so there is no need for the information to become known to you."

"Then again, that also means there's no need for the information not to be known to me," the Doctor pointed out. "And I do _love_ knowledge so… let me die happy."

"Your emotional state is unimportant," the Controller said. "However, your logic is undeniable."

"He's telling you?" Carrie murmured, not daring to believe her ears.

"The Virus you detected earlier," the Controller began, stepping forwards slightly, "is only the first element of our plan."

"He's telling me," the Doctor smiled at Carrie.

"The virus is designed to disrupt all defensive computer systems," the Controller continued, ignoring him. "Once those systems are disabled, humanity will be at a standstill."

"Leaving the Cybermen in a position to invade," the Doctor continued, smiling and nodding.

"Correct," the Controller said. "With the defensive network down, humanity's forces will be scattered, divided and leaderless…"

"Cue the lawsuit from Peter Jackson," Carrie said.

"…and they will be defeated, allowing for mass conversion of the populous," the Controller finished. "All major anti-extraterrestrial defense organizations have been identified, and a Transmat device is in position – those forces will be eradicated. The plan is simple and effective."

"Very much so," the Doctor said. "Very much so. But totally insane and evil of course, and that means I have to stop it."

"You are not in a position to do so," the Controller said. "And you are incorrect in your assessment about our plan's nature. 'Evil' is an emotional concept."

"And it's what you are," Carrie yelled, angered by this things standpoint. "You've killed all my friends, stuck them in pods. You _are_ evil!"

"We seek only to save humanity," the Controller said. "You're species are at war, you destroy everything in your world. You fight for power, for currency, you fight for beliefs. We can remove all of them, all the reasons for murder. All the reasons for destruction. We can save humanity."

"_Save_ them?" the Doctor snapped. "You can do no such thing, you just chop them up, put them back together with wires, and then put their heads in a silver helmet. You _give_ them a metal shell. A _paint_ job."

"We give them truth…" the Controller began.

"You're fooling precisely no one," the Doctor snapped. "I'll stop you."

"How?" the Controller asked. "You have no weapons, no army, no devices. And you are too late to stop the virus – it is being released even as we speak."

The Controller turned to face a monitor.

"Witness it, Doctor," he said. The Doctor watched as the monitor showed a map of Earth, and then the map slowly turned red, beginning from a point in Britain, and spreading…

--

Colonel Strand of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce marched into his command room.

"What the _hell's_ going on?" he demanded. "I come in and there's all hell breaking loose!"

"Sir," Corporal Daniel McKenzie came up to him, all military precision and efficiency. "We have a problem. All the computer systems literally just… crashed!"

"What do you mean?" Strand asked, bemused. "How can top security UNIT files just… crash?!"

"We don't know sir," McKenzie replied, still clipped and efficient. "They just did. We're getting the specialists in now."

"Typical," Strand said. "Never a specialist when we need it. What about Code 9's? The Doctor?"

"No sign, sir," the Corporal said.

"Damn," Strand swore.

--

"Stop this," the Doctor said. "You cannot realize the danger in your actions."

"Incorrect," the Controller said. "We realize perfectly. You are about to witness the birth of New Mondas, Doctor."

"What's happening?" Carrie asked, confused.

"They've released their computer virus on your world," the Doctor said. "It's the beginning of the end…"

"Correct, Doctor," the Controller said. "And now, your curiosity is satisfied – you will be eradicated."

The Controller motioned with it's hand, and the Cybermen advanced on Carrie and the Doctor…

--


	7. Chapter 7

VII

The computer systems of every defensive network on planet Earth came to a standstill. The Virus, it's intellect carried over from its prior form, advanced through those systems with all the clinical efficiency of it's robotic masters, and it moved more quickly for that. It deleted codes, files, every single military strategy in event of invasion, in every computer, on every continent…

It did assign as moments consideration to what exactly it would do once it had finished it's task, but dismissed it. Do its job, its assigned task. Nothing else mattered.

--

UNIT's troops had mobilized, as quickly as they had realized the virus was coming, and they had gathered, and they had armed. The virus had deleted all the pass codes to the top secret advanced weaponry, but the troops were still in a position to advance and defend critical sights when necessary, still armed with some alien specific weapons.

Colonel Strand and his men, his personal staff anyway, Private Davison and Corporal McKenzie included, took up defensive positions inside UNIT HQ, because they could just tell what was coming.

"Ready men?" Strand said. All around him, his staff nodded. He only had thirty three soldiers in the building, the rest were his support troops at the main barracks – cut off by that damned Virus. All the specialists had confirmed, it was definitely alien, but none of them could identify the species. Nor would they want to, because that sort of guessing would be dangerous.

All of a sudden, a noise permeated the room – a humming noise.

"Look out!" a soldier called, and suddenly, a dozen tall, robotic silver figures appeared in the room, armed with laser weapons, handlebars, piping...

"Cybermen," Strand murmured, recognizing them. "Gold clips, on the double!"

His men scrambled to obey, as the metal monstrosities opened fire…

--

"Run!" the Doctor called out, holding out his pen device as a weapon, as the Cybermen advanced. Carrie needed no second telling, and ran out the way they had come in. The Doctor held the device in readiness.

"You cannot hurt us with the probe, Doctor," the Controller stated.

"It's a Sonic Screwdriver," the Doctor said, snarling. "And I can seriously put out someone's I.T with it, if nothing else."

"There is no point resisting, Doctor," the Controller said. "You cannot escape, you cannot succeed."

"Perhaps not," the Doctor conceded, still holding . "But I can try."

--

Carrie ran, belting down the corridor at full pace. She cursed the fact that she was a banker – she had never had much cause for running, and found herself out of breath. She glanced around and, horror building up in her gut, she realized she was in the room where all her friends were having their identities ripped away from them, slowly and painfully. She took the time to study them up close; their skin was a mess of solver veins, two probes inserted in the temples. This was an early stage, surely? The eyes were glassy, but there was still slight humanity in them – horror? Fear? She moved along – this one was a later stage, it must have been. The eyes were totally glassy. The arms were replaced, the ears were covered by the ear-muffs and the handlebars. The skin was pale and bloodless, and the veins were still silver. the chest had a chest unit attached, but it was very rudimentary. She moved along, and found herself, and found herself facing a near complete Cyberman. She could see the stages, and right now, she felt the urge to scream in horror, but she stepped back.

Right into a Cyberman's waiting arms.

"Ah!" she screamed.

"You are fresh stock," it said. A Conversion unit opened up and a new Cyberman stepped out into the world, moving to it's appointed tasks. The Cyberman dragged Carrie to the chamber.

"No, please, you can't!" she yelled.

"You will become as we are," the Cyberman said. And then it threw her inside. She was harnessed in, and then could only watch in horror as the tubes came alive.

Then she yelped in pain as they sank into her cranium.

--

The Doctor was running out of places to hide. They kept coming – Cybermen never gave up, he had said so to Sarah, all those years ago. They were implacable. He thought they had been extinct, but obviously not. they would never be extinct. They would never stop. As the Controller had said to him, all those lives ago, in the distant future of a dead world, 'we will survive.' They would always survive. They would always be there.

The Doctor watched the Cybermen march towards him as he backed towards a bank of computers – he thought about people. The people they had been. The people who were now dead, gone, deceased, never coming back again, their brains cut out, stitched up and stuck in a shiny case, and the Cybermen somehow thought they were doing these people a kindness. The Doctor knew the truth – it was there for anyone to see, in the teardrop under the eye – an oil release that lamented the people who were now long gone, memories suppressed, lives destroyed.

The Doctor had been playing this game of hide and seek for a good ten minutes, hoping that Carrie hadn't succumbed to curiosity, and had just run. Then, when the time came for him to run, they had cornered him. They were smart and he underestimated them. Too smart. He wouldn't do that again. Desperate to survive, he had emptied his jacket at them, then thrown the jacket as well. his Sonic Screwdriver in his trouser pocket to avoid losing such a valuable piece of equipment. His jacket was now ripped and in a huddle in the corner, thrown away like a rag, when he had thrown it at the Cyber Controller. He was running out of ideas, when suddenly, to his immense relief (but not surprise- he never surprised himself) he stopped, and had a really bright idea. As the Cybermen came around him, he reached inside his trouser pocket, grabbed his sonic screwdriver, and frantically adjusted the setting…

--


	8. Chapter 8

VIII

The battle was brutal and hard. Strand thought himself a soldier of experience, but the Cybermen were coming, and they were all unstoppable. Out of thirty three soldiers, only fifteen were left, firing at the Cybermen from behind doors ripped from their hinges, tables upturned. Ten Cybermen lay dead, taken out by Gold bullets – but the ammunition only worked if you got to fire it, and the Cybermen were smart enough to make sure you didn't get many chances, taking cover as much as if they were human, only popping up to make deadly accurate shots.

Strand turned to McKenzie.

"It's been a good run," he said to his staff officer. "We've fought for Queen and Country."

"I'm not giving up yet sir," the Corporal said, snarling, and standing up, taking a Cyberman down with a lucky burst.

"Good man," Strand smiled, following suit, taking two Cybermen down with his last gold bullets. Then he took a grenade off of his belt and threw…

--

The Doctor smiled and held up the sonic, and released the pulse – it was a carefully set so that all Cyber systems would be temporarily disabled, but not destroyed – the Doctor wouldn't kill anything today, not even a Cyberman. He simply, flat out refused. Killing was off.

He smiled as the Cybermen flailed. he ran straight for the exit, and waved at the shrieking machines.

"It's not been pleasant!" he said. "Won't see you soon!"

The lift vanished out of sight.

--

Carrie felt fire eating at her brain. Where once she would have felt fear, there was none – only a spreading numbness, combined with two pinpricks of rapidly vanishing pain.

She was also starting to forget things. Where once her parents' names were, there was… a code. Where once there were names of friends, crushes, lovers, there was… weapons training? Where once love and anger and joy and fear had lived, now only military tactics took their place. Technological knowledge. Scientific knowledge. Schematics for a robotic body. All replacing the meat and potatoes, the ordinary crushes and humdrum events that were her life.

Carrie Wright was losing what made her human… and worse, she was starting not to care.

--

The Doctor belted down the corridor, looking for Carrie. The poor girl would probably have run away, he was thinking. Out the cupboard and all the way home. He paused as he saw a window, and glanced outside it. Canary Wharf was on fire, along with the Tower of London – and he could see places he knew belonged to UNIT burning as well. The defenses of Earth were being targeted, and for the moment, the Doctor was powerless to help, but he had a plan. A plan that he was still formulating, but it was a plan. And it was a plan that he was going to implement.

He ran further down the corridor, belting towards… something. And then, as suddenly as he started, he stopped.

Carrie Wright.

Human girl.

She had trusted him.

And she was trapped inside a Cyber Conversion unit. The Doctor stared at her steadily blanking eyes, her veins starting to flow silver. He could see the fear in them, and he could see his own face, reflecting his horror.

Damn, he thought.

He knew the stages of Cyber Conversion. He knew that, unless he acted, she had twenty minutes before the process became irreversible.

But unless he acted now, the world would be conquered, UNIT destroyed, and the world lost.

"I'm sorry," he told the girl. "So sorry. But my duty is clear."

He promised himself that he would come back. But his mission was clear – save the world, then the girl.

He ran to a computer console, and started hacking. The way he understood it, the Virus worked by attacking every single computer system with the correct keywords. The Doctor didn't know what the keywords for the Cybermen's computer systems were though… think, think, think… Mondas? No, ancient name for Earth, might knacker up some poor archivist system. Telos? Doubtful. They'd abandoned it, if he remembered rightly – his fault.

Cybermen… UNIT systems would have a file. Cyber Controller – if the Virus registered the words separately, Thomas the Tank Engine would never be the same…

The Doctor snapped his fingers. He ran to Carrie, took out his sonic screwdriver, and opened the cell. He couldn't free her – the mental shock would fry her brain – but he could use her access to access the keywords of the cyber system…

--

Carrie felt the words ring through her mind, even as her mind was slipping away from her…

'Hold on,' it said. 'I'm here. Stay human. I need a word.'

"Hello," she forced her mouth to move.

'Hello to you too, but a specific word… one connected to the Cyber mainframe, one that won't appear on any human database. Any word.'

"Any… word…?"

'Any word.'

Carrie concentrated. She knew the voice not, but there was something familiar about it, something she could not place. What was it? The word. Yes the word, one that no human system would recognize…

"Thranwa," she murmured.

'Pardon?'

"A… word. Thranwa."

'Thank you,' the voice said, and if she could see, Carrie would have said it was beaming.

--

The Doctor hacked into the system controlling the Virus and set it to attack the Cybermens systems – focusing on the keyword that Carrie had lent him. He entered it, and stood back.

--

Everywhere, all at once, within range of the Virus, there was a crash.

Every Cyber system had that word. It was important. A name.

Every system had the word.

Every system crashed.

Every single Cyberman, each and every one the possessor of a computer processor in their organic brains, crashed with the system.

--

Carrie suddenly felt very achey, very alive, and very tired.

She collapsed to the ground, or at least, she _nearly_ did, but someone caught her. She looked up, and smiled.

"Hello," she murmured.

"Hello," the Doctor smiled back.

--


	9. Chapter 9

IX

She got to her feet slowly, and looked down at herself. Her skin looked a bit pale… and her arms were covered in silver veins.

"Oh my God," she said, almost crying. "I… I got put in a…"

The Doctor grabbed her and looked her in the eyes. He didn't want her going into shock.

"Look at me," he said. "You're safe. You're fine. Trust me, just… trust me."

Carrie nodded, slowly, and her face slowly colored. Then her veins slowly started returning to their regular color.

"Right," the Doctor smiled. "Now then… I fear we may have some unfinished business. Come with me."

--

Strand tapped the dead Cybermen with his foot.

"I think it might just be dead," Davison deadpanned.

"Yeah," McKenzie added. "If they were ever alive."

Strand looked at the dead face, and stared deep at it's eyes. The teardrops. He knew what the Cybermen were. He had read all of the files. He knew. So, when McKenzie said that, he snapped his head up.

"They were people once," he told his Corporal. "Human. We have to remember that, McKenzie."

McKenzie looked sheepish, but Strand had already turned his gaze back to the nameless face.

"Torchwood is gonna have a field day," he mumbled, before heading to his office to write reports.

--

The Doctor walked into Cyber Control, and looked grim, for obvious reasons - as the place was filled to the brim with Cybermen, all dead, smoldering and burning. The stench of rotting flesh was everywhere. Only the Cyber Controller was standing, but it was leaning, really, against a wall, dying, surrounded by a puddle of what Carrie could only guess was Cyber puke.

"You," it snarled, noticing them, emotion laced through its voice like a poison. "You ruined everything. They would have made us all better. So much better…"

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, his voice semi sympathetic.

"Matthews," the Controller – spat? Could you say that for a machine face?

"Oh my God…" Carrie gasped, looking at it in a new light. "You! You bastard -!"

"Predictable human response," Matthews/Controller. "From a predictable human. You're scum, all of you, clinging to your tiny little lives…"

"You were like them, once," the Doctor pointed out. "Just as… scummy, as it were."

"Yeah," the Controller said. "I guess I was. I had a little life like all the rest of the animal organisms, a little, insignificant creation with no purpose other than to live its pitiful life, and then die a miserable death."

"And what are you?" the Doctor asked the Controller creature.

"I am Cyberman," the Cyber Controller said, its metallic voice sounding almost like a purr. "We are the saviors of humanity, the reasoning beings that will save your species from its own insanity and fury. We are superior to your organisms."

"And totally emotionless," the Doctor added, deadpan.

"Yes," the Cyber Controller said, a metallic laughter in it's voice.

"Right," the Doctor said. "You may want to study your own behavior, at the moment, because, I'm sorry to tell you, you are very, _very _emotional at the moment."

"No," the Controller said at once.

"Yes," the Doctor said, continuing on his roll. "You are a creature of flesh and blood whose life has been stolen away – and now your mind is remembering, trying to keep to the Cyber element in charge because that is how you've been conditioned, but at the same time trying to become human again because that is it's natural state."

"You are incorrect," the Controller said. "I am a Cyber Controller…"

"You are Matthews!" the Doctor yelled. "A human being! Try to remember that! Focus on that! Human!"

The Controller swung it's arm at him, but he ducked it, and laughed.

"Face it, Matthews," he told it, smiling. "You're not a Cyberman – you're a hybrid, a freak!"

He hated trying to upset it, but it needed to see the truth. The Doctor pitied the Cybermen, as much as it was possible to pity a race of automatons, and he wanted to help this person, now, to see the truth. If that meant hurting him first…

"I'm a Cyberman!" the creature yelled.

"You're a person!" the Doctor yelled. "Cut apart and put back in a big, silver tin. Why don't you just accept that!"

"BECAUSE IT HURTS!!" the Cyberman yelled, the metallic vocaliser screeching. "I lost everything I had when I was human, and the Cybermen came and offered me a life without hurt."

"What did you lose?" Carrie asked, trying to sympathize with the man she had known for years and only just now begun to understand.

"My wife left me and told me I'd never see my child again," the Cyberman said, letting the words flow. "And I never did. Five years ago that was, and neither of them has ever contacted me since. And I just wanted to stop hurting… and the Cybermen came and offered me that."

"And you accepted," the Doctor finished, nodding in comprehension.

"Yes," the Cyberman said, its metallic voice breaking. Carrie put her hands over her mouth.

"I am so sorry," she murmured. "So sorry…"

"Too late now," the Cyber Controller said. "I am imperfect – malfunctioning. I must self-terminate."

"No!" Carrie yelled, suddenly realizing what he meant. "You can't just kill yourself!"

"I can," the Controller said.

"You shouldn't then!" Carrie said. "It's not right!"

"I am Cyberform," the Controller said. "I am not right. I am emotional, imperfect. I am a defective unit. I must self terminate."

The Doctor put his hand on Carrie's shoulder, and shook his head.

"There's nothing we can say to make him change his mind," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

Carrie could only watch, horrified, as the Controller terminated himself – he pressed five buttons in sequence on his chest unit, and then stood still.

"Execute," it said. And then, somehow, a red light covered its body… and then it disintegrated.

"So ends the latest Cyber threat," the Doctor murmured. "Death. So much of it." He sighed. "I can't do this forever," he murmured.

"Can anyone?" Carrie mumbled. "I barely feel like I can carry on now."

"Well," the Doctor said. "I guess its time we were going."

Carrie nodded absently, still staring at the space where the Controller – where _Matthews – _had been.

"Yeah," she said. "I don't want to come back here ever again."

--


	10. Chapter 10

X

The Doctor walked, hands firmly in trouser pockets, down the smoldering corridor filled with the half Cybernised dead. There were no survivors, at least as far as Carrie could see. She looked around, but it seemed as though all of her friends had been in the conversion chambers and more than half way along in the process, when the Doctor had pulled his little trick. Carrie watched him as he wandered towards his ship, and sighed. Then he turned to Carrie and smiled.

"This is goodbye then," he said, simply. "It's been – well, not fun, but very memorable."

"Yeah," Carrie said, nodding, slightly shell shocked from the experience. "Yeah, it's been memorable. I'll remember it for a long time. Still."

"You want a lift?" the Doctor asked, pointing his thumb at the TARDIS. "I'm sure I can convince her to drop you off somewhere close to home, and sometime soon."

"What's the point?" Carrie asked. "It's not like I've got a job or anything. They'll be all sorts of people asking stupid questions…"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded. "There most certainly will be."

"So why would I want to go home?" she asked. "What would be the point of that? I haven't even got a job anymore, most of my friends were here when the Cybermen…"

She slumped to the floor, and started sobbing. The Doctor sat with her and put his arm around her shoulder, doing his best to comfort her.

"There, there," he murmured, his tone comforting. "You'll be fine. You just wait, things will be better come the morning…"

She stopped crying, and looked up at him, into his lonely blue eyes, his sad smile.

"You know what really cheers me up whenever I'm down?" the Doctor asked.

"W-what?" Carrie murmured.

"A nice, relaxing holiday," the Doctor smiled. "In the TARDIS, we can go anywhere, do anything, meet anyone."

Carrie stood up as he grabbed her hands.

"I want you to come with me," he added. "It's been so lonely these last few months for me, nobody to talk to, so why don't you come with me? You need a break, and I know a million different holiday spots, all of them either exciting, or pleasant, or relaxing, or...!"

Carrie smiled at him through her tears, and almost laughed.

"You really are desperate, aren't you?" she asked him.

"Yep," he smiled, slightly sheepishly. "I absolutely detest being alone."

"Alright then," she said, sighing slightly. "I'll come with you. Provided we go somewhere _interesting_. Got that?"

"Oh, well, that's easy," the Doctor smiled. "I never go anywhere dull! I never land on Sunday, I never let the despots win, and I always, always try to have fun!"

They entered the ship.

"Is it always as dangerous as this?" Carrie asked.

"Always," the Doctor said, more serious now. "Sometimes more so. Do you still want to come?"

She considered the possibilities that were being afforded to her.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I think I can handle it."

"I know you can," the Doctor grinned. "Just one thing, though…" he added.

"What?" she asked, weary.

"Never, ever, ever, _ever," _the Doctor said, sternly.

"Yeah?" Carrie said, after a pause.

"…call me 'Doc'."

Carrie grinned.

"I won't – scouts honour," she said, holding up her hand. He smiled, and held up his own hand, making the Vulcan salute at her. She scowled – she could never do that.

"Are we going then?" she asked, slightly impatient now to begin her wandering.

"Yes, yes," the Doctor said, waving a hand and flicking a few switches noisily. "now then… handbrake off, that thing in balance… excellent," the Doctor grinned, looking up at her. "We're ready!"

He pulled a lever on his console and smiled. "Off we got then!"

And then, the wheezing, trumpeting sound began, the column in the centre of the console started moving, and the Doctors' smile lit up the dark room.

The TARDIS began to dematerialize, and they were off…


End file.
